Inevitable
by Cheshire Chameleon
Summary: They say that some things are just everlasting. One of those things being true love. But another thing that's everlasting is the inevitability of change. How can both go together so well? That's the thing—they don't. One-shot; bittersweet; song-fic.


**A/N: So, this is my entry for Daughter-of-Rome's Jayna Competition. I'll write another one if I feel like it.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or the song. But you should listen to it, it'll make more sense. The first song and the main one for this is "What About Now" by Daughtry and the one at the last part is "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera. ღ **

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><p><em>Shadows fill an empty heart <em>  
><em>As love is fading, <em>  
><em>From all the things that we are <em>  
><em>But are not saying. <em>  
><em>Can we see beyond the scars <em>  
><em>And make it to the dawn?<em>

Reyna squinted her eyes as the blinding sun shone directly above camp. Oh gods, no, that couldn't be. No, it was just a hallucination. A trick that her mind was playing on her, a cruel trick at that.

"Reyna?" Jason asked, taking in his surroundings. It didn't feel right. Not in the least. The place he had left had seemed so familiar in his dreams but now, he felt like a complete outcast. He no longer belonged here. It was all too surreal.

She took a small step towards him, taking in his appearance, making sure it was really Jason Grace. She examined the blond hair, the electric blue eyes, the scar on his upper lip. It was_._

She rushed forward and crushed him in bone-breaking hug. "Where have you been? Do you know how worried all of us were? One day you just disappeared and...I'm going to kill Juno for doing this!" she whispered into his ear.

He chuckled slightly, giving her a one-armed hug. "I was away. And apparently I've been away too long. Also she's my patron, so you can't as much as I want you to."

Reyna smiled as she looked to Jason's right. Her smile suddenly shifted into a frown. "Jason..." she said cautiously, taking in every bit of the gorgeous girl who Reyna had just noticed standing next to Jason. She had eyes that wouldn't let Reyna decide what color they were, choppy dark hair and something about the way she was looking at Jason set Reyna off. Reyna glanced down and felt the dawn air suddenly give off a faint chill. The girl's hand was intertwined with his. "Who's this?"

Jason sighed, took a deep breath and stepped back, "Reyna, well...you might need to sit down for this one. This"—he gestured to the abnormally beautiful girl standing right beside him—"is Piper McLean, daughter of Venus. We're kind of...dating. She's my girlfriend now."

_Change the colors of the sky._  
><em>And open up to<em>  
><em>The ways you made me feel alive,<em>  
><em>The ways I loved you.<em>  
><em>For all the things that never died,<em>  
><em>To make it through the night,<em>  
><em>Love will find you.<em>

"Really, Jason?" she screamed, looking him straight in the eye. "This is a new low. Even for you!"

"Well, it not my fault that you never learned to grow up!" he screamed back. Campers around nervously backed away. "Why can't you just accept that I've moved on!"

"So, you're saying you just left me for a random girl you met when you were on a bus one day?" she hissed, "You left me for that—that—that Barbie doll? That Venus spawn? I thought you were better than that but I was clearly wrong!"

"She's not a Barbie doll!" Jason yelled, "It's not my fault Hera took my memory!"

"You," Reyna accused, narrowing her dark eyes. "You said _Hera_. Face it, Jason—you've changed! You've become a _Graeci_! Have you really forgotten who raised you? What happened to the Roman side of you? That was the _real_ you."

"Don't pretend that this is all about me!"he shouted. "I've seen you and that new camper, Frank, Reyna. I'm not oblivious to it!"

Reyna's eyes widened, "What are you..." Realization hit her. "You idiot! I don't like Frank! I was helping him with his problems with Hazel! When will you get that through your thick skull?"

"You're just mad at Piper! It's not her fault that I like her!" Jason snarled. "You're just jealous that you'll never be her!"

"I can't believe I ever loved you!" Reyna shrieked. "I hope you live happily-ever-after with your new girlfriend! The one who you got to _replace_ me!" And with that, Reyna sprinted off, leaving Jason and what he said finally sunk into his brain.

And he realized that he had just lost the only person who had ever fully understood him.

_What about now?  
>What about today?<br>What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?  
>What if our love never went away?<br>What if it's lost behind words we could never find?  
>Baby, before it's too late,<br>What about now?_

"Stay away from him," Reyna commanded to the Twelfth Legion. "He no longer one of us. He chose the Greeks over his own kind."

An 8-year old Bryan looked up to her with his huge glassy green orbs, "Who?"

"Jason." Reyna spat out venomously. "Jason Grace—the traitor."

_The sun is breaking in your eyes_  
><em>To start a new day.<em>  
><em>This broken heart can still survive<em>  
><em>With a touch of your grace.<em>  
><em>Shadows fade into the light.<em>  
><em>I am by your side,<em>  
><em>Where love will find you.<em>

Reyna bent down to look in the pond. But she closed her eyes the minute her eyes saw the blue liquid. Did she dare? Of course she did. And as she peered into the deep waters, the first thing to catch her attention was her eyes. Her eyes were dull. Her once piercingly vivid dark eyes were now dull, broken and lifeless. And she knew exactly who had made them that way.

She absentmindedly blinked away tears that she didn't even know were there. No, she wouldn't show any sign of pain. She _couldn't_. Pain was weakness. Pain meant being disgraced, humiliated and becoming an outcast. Pain meant being vulnerable—something Reyna would never allow herself to be.

After all, hadn't that been what she had been doing her entire life? Hiding the pain that would never cease to haunt her? That was what she was good at and no one had ever really known her pains until she had found people she could trust. People who actually cared for her. One of them being Jason Grace. Yet even his name tasted bitter on her tongue now. She bit her lip. And she tried to make those feelings go away.

Tried.

_What about now?__  
>What about today?<br>What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?  
>What if our love, it never went away?<br>What if it's lost behind words we could never find?  
>Baby, before it's too late,<br>What about now?_

And he watched her. He watched her from afar as she led the Twelfth Legion. He watched as she became herself. Her true self.

"Sparky?" Piper's sweet melodic voice cut clean through Jason's thoughts. She tugged at the sleeve of his jacket. "One of the campers said they're gonna be fireworks soon. Something to do with the arrival of us Greeks. Want to join me and Leo?"

"Yeah...sure," he replied absentmindedly. His mind was too far away to think properly. Too far away thinking of Reyna.

_Now that we're here,  
>Now that we've come this far,<br>Just hold on.  
>There is nothing to fear,<br>For I am right beside you.  
>For all my life,<br>I am yours_

What did she care, anyway? He had abandoned her, broken her heart and replaced her. Jason Grace had become a_ Graeci_. How did the gods expect both the Greeks and the Romans to forget a past like theirs? Fighting would be inevitable. Especially now with the new Jason.

But something inside her knew that despite all of this, Jason never intentionally meant to hurt her.

_Shut up_, she told the part of her that was actually protecting him. _He's nothing but a lying, cheating, evil, no-good weasel who left you for someone who's attention span is smaller than that of a goldfish._

And somehow, the part that was protecting him overruled her common sense and she ran.

_What about now?  
>What about today?<br>What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?  
>What if our love never went away?<br>What if it's lost behind words we could never find?_

"It's beautiful, isn't it," Piper murmured, her head resting on Jason's shoulder as they watched the sky explode with color. An assortment of shapes and images lit the dark sky above.

"Yeah," Jason said, "Just like you."

"Oh, shut up," Piper muttered, burying her head into Jason's arm and turning a light shade of crimson. "You know, I was worried about what would happen when we came here to Camp Jupiter. Especially since you had a girlfriend back here in California and all..." Her voice trailed off.

He sighed, "Piper...I...I...Well, I'm actually just really confused at this point, right here and right now. I have no idea what's going to happen or what can happen. You and Reyna...and the Giants...the Prophecy...the Chosen Seven..."

"Yeah," Piper nodded. "Life basically sucks."

"But this doesn't," he whispered and he suddenly leaned forward and kissed her, fireworks and all.

_What about now?  
>What about today?<br>What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?  
>What if our love never went away?<br>What if it's lost behind words we could never find?  
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And Reyna kept running. She kept running despite the fact that her lungs burned and her feet ached. Seeing Jason was more important than anything in the world right now. She needed to see him. To talk to him. To try and make it what it was before Juno kidnapped him.

Soon enough, she reached her destination. Only to find a sight that would break her heart once more. Jason and Piper, under the moonlight and the fireworks, holding hands and kissing. They seemed too engrossed between themselves to notice anything or anyone else around. Anyone like Reyna.

But no words needed to be spoken other than the last words Reyna solemnly uttered: "Good-bye, Jason."

_Baby, before it's too late,_

For when he looked back after their kiss, he was too fazed to notice anything. But if he had looked closer, he would have seen a dark figure in the forests. A dark figure that soon mounted a bigger figure that could soar into the sky named Scipio. He would have seen the firm jaw of the first figure, her eyes filled with determination and hurt. Yet most of all, he would have noticed the way she had developed some sort of aura. An aura of newly-founded strength.

But being the love-struck guy he was, he failed to notice all these things altogether. Piper simply leaned on his shoulder and he wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders, his mind somehow forgetting a part of himself. A part named Reyna.

And as the couple stood there in the dark, the bitter smell of betrayal hung thick in the air.

After all, it was inevitable. Inevitable that the cold outer layer made of steel that protected her heart before would return once it had fallen off months before. And so of course, it did. But that's what made her stronger.

_After all you put me through_  
><em>You'd think I'd despise you<em>  
><em>But in the end I wanna thank you<em>  
><em>'Cause you made that much stronger<em>

_-Fighter, Christina Aguilera_

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><p><strong>AN: Yes, I know I overused the words "but" and "and" at the start of sentences. I was also meaning to post this sooner, but well...blame procrastination. And school. But I finally uploaded it!  
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**This one-shot was basically what I thought would happen at Camp Jupiter though there are some spoilers from SoN. It was supposed to end with happy Jayna at first but I changed my mind later on. It would be more angsty I guess. But I really liked how this ending turned out.**

** Then again, I might write another Jayna soon. And this one's gonna end happily.  
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**I didn't put Reyna's last name yet because...well, I couldn't think of any that suited her. All the last names I could think of sounded wrong, weird or impossibly horrible with her name. **

**Feedback for this would be _really_ helpful so...review? It'll only take a short amount of time to help me or make me happier... Oh and Happy Halloween!  
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**~C.C.**


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